PP.5 Identify simple and compound sentences
What is a sentence?
A sentence is a group of words that tells a complete thought. A sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark.
- The dog ran.
- I like to read books.
- We went to the park.
If the words do not sound complete, it is not a sentence.
What is a simple sentence?
A simple sentence has one complete thought. It includes a subject and a predicate.
- The cat slept.
- My brother plays soccer.
- She ate lunch.
A simple sentence may have more than one word in the subject or predicate, but it has only one complete idea.
What is a compound sentence?
A compound sentence is made of two simple sentences joined together. Each part can stand alone as a complete sentence.
- I wanted to play, and it started to rain.
- She read a book, but her sister watched TV.
- We finished our work, so we went outside.
A compound sentence usually uses a comma and a joining word to connect the two sentences.
Joining words in compound sentences
Compound sentences are joined using special words called conjunctions.
- and
- but
- so
Remember to place a comma before the conjunction when joining two sentences.
How to tell simple and compound sentences apart
You can identify sentence types by checking how many complete thoughts they have.
- Simple: The bird flew away.
- Compound: The bird flew away, and the cat stayed behind.
If you can split the sentence into two sentences that both make sense, it is a compound sentence.